People had made it clear, that it was time for more exploration jams within Nottingham. Some were up for doing just that, this weekend. With Highfields being a desired location, seeing as that was a recent place of training. With that, I created an event for the day. I wasn’t that bothered about meeting people in town first, as that would be a long slog for myself. It was quicker to get there of my own accord, I had put step by step instructions on how to get there via all modes of transport. James felt that was a bit unfair to people that were still unsure, or couldn’t understand the instructions of how to get there. I had covered ALL the possible ways to get there and how, it was up to the others attending to make their own way there and meet up with people on the way if needs be. It’s not like they’re all kids any more and needed a chaperone for a trip…

I was unsure how I was getting there myself now. I had hoped to get a lift from Adam, but he was meeting others in town first now and going via tram earlier than the meet up time. I could have gone via bus, but that would take ages, meaning I would have to be going into and out of town. Another route, which was the more direct and easier way there didn’t have a bus from mine. In the end I did manage to get a lift to QMC, only to find the bridge over the motorway was closed! Since when?! I had to walk the long way around and through the university campus, doing a few jumps on my way to kill the time. The others had bumped into Daniel Bunkle and a few others who were out in Nottingham for the ‘Fearless Jam’ organised by Jack Cobb. Which seemed like it was to be a bit of a shambles, organization wise and I’m not too sure how it would go day wise. Annoyingly it was on the same day, we had chosen to venture.

As I arrived at the meet up point, there was no one to be seen. How on earth did this happen? I was a tad later than expected and everyone else should have been there long before I was, due to meeting in town an hour and half before the meet time. The few people who were sat on the grass bank sunning, looked at me oddly while I jumped around on the edge of the tall walls beside the lake, waiting for everyone else to arrive. Derby Tom of all people had arrived first. He always seemed to be out on these adventure days, which I’m sure is only coincidental, but we never seem to see him any other time. The rest of the guys did finally arrive, they were late due to waiting on others in town and had mentioned that Femi wanted them to wait for him too, as he was running late. They obviously didn’t and I don’t blame them, I wouldn’t have either with him ALWAYS being hours later! #blacktime

I was unsure what to practise, instead opting to eat while the others warmed up. Some of the guys at one side were jumping to the steps from a wall, going up a step each time. A tree branch seemed to be hampering them and so I decided to break it down. The tree was dead anyway and it allowed more space to precision to the steps further up. Pete and James said to not destroy the tree and stop, as there was no need and it makes us seem like vandals. I wouldn’t have done it, let alone been able to if the tree was still healthy! Continue reading ‘Parkour & GO.’

I was looking forward to today, it was going to be a training session of epic proportions. The plan was to travel over to Highfields Park to train for the afternoon. It was all very spur of the moment, due to Adam wanting to go. Some of the Derby guys were over and wanted to tag along too. We amended the plan to include them into the adventure and be picked up on the way. On the day I was running late, as was Adam and I got picked up at 1pm when we should have already been in town. We were even later when we went in circle detours trying to get to Plaza, damn the city centre and their one way system and various blocked off roads. We stopped at IBM, where there were masses of people out training. Nottingham and Derbarians, jumping and flipping around. I said hello to a few people, collected Jeeves, Paul and Ben. Others enquired where we were going and said they would join us there later. With that we drove over to Highfields, stopping off at Sainsbury’s first for supplies.

The floor was still very wet and damp. As we walked around the lake of Highfields, the trees I wanted to train on were a no go due to how wet it was and so we walked further around. Some of the guys doing a precision jump between an island and then over a small stream. We were all quite tentative on the jumps due to it being slippery. The masses of kids arrived guided by Mat, they all gave the same jump a go running and standing. With a few of them looking like they might slip and fall into the small stream. It was funny to watch, film and photo. With many of them being in the same friend circle they all had that competitive edge and bullied each other to be doing the same movements and to be at the same level. I wished the photos had come out better, but I felt in a rush getting a decent angle. It wasn’t the best day for lighting and as much as I wanted to train I was also feeling most demotivated.

Running – Precision.

We moved slowly around the lake to the tall walled area which many people used as a climbing wall and it was usually covered with chalk near the hand placements. The wet really had put a dampener on the day for being able to train at all the usual spots [1] we had in the past. The training did get better, at least for myself. I liked the area and it offered some pretty good things to do, even if many of the younger ones just used the walls to flip off, rather than Parkour. I guess that is something they are more into though, when you are younger it’s all about impressing and doing things others cannot. At the same time, why spend all that time to travel just to flip off walls as it seemed a bit pointless. I captured some images while Adam, Paul and Jack were doing precision jumps on the stairwell. Continue reading ‘Highfields Park.’

I woke up today feeling drained, outside was gray and overcast as if it was to throw it down with heavy rain at any given moment. From seeing this I decided that I wouldn’t be training today and instead stay home and dry, away from the onslaught of rain which was sure to ensue. Yaz came online and asked if the jam was still on? I told him it looked like rain and I wasn’t feeling going out, that and no one else was online yet to confirm. I was still in two minds whether to go out if everyone else was up for it still. Yaz agreed we should leave it and then logged off to go and mow his lawn, it began to rain and that confirmed the day was only set to get worse. Denis popped up on Facebook chat asking if I was ready to train. I explained I wasn’t planning to be out now and neither was Yaz who was now busy, not to mention Stefano had not even confirmed he was out as of yet. With this said, a disheartened Denis said we have a few hours yet until our meet up time for the weather and people to chance their minds. He assured me it’s not predicted to rain today, even though I had felt and could see the rain from my window!

Further more he said even if it does rain, it won’t rain for that long and we can still train, maybe not at the QMC area because once the grass there is wet it stays wet even with the slightest bit of moisture so we should just train in town instead. It was later in the day and Stefano had come online, asking if the jam was still on? I told him yes as the weather had brightened up, the sun now shining had given me a change of heart about coming out after all. I text Abdur at 12.30 with the time and place we were meeting to see if he was free to train, even though we were meeting at 13.30 and I had text him rather late. Yaz came back online and I told him lets just go out and train, see what happens and I’ll see him there, with that he headed off to get ready. I was about to leave when Denis told me that he was now coming into town and that we should just train there instead, so wait for him to arrive and not go straight to QMC once we had met.

I arrived at the meet up point to find Yaz as always to be the first one there waiting. I told him that Denis was now on about training town instead and that we need to wait for him to arrive. Yaz was slightly confused and said that is not what he had told him on Facebook chat before he left. So what is Denis on about as he told him we were still going QMC and he would see him there and then left to get ready. Abdur was next to arrive, I was unsure whether he was going to attend due to my late notice and so it was a surprise to see him turning up and on time! Denis was late as always, no change there then! We spoke about what to do training wise and that QMC was on the agenda. Denis said he didn’t want to go if it was going to rain as then it will be a rubbish, wasted day.

We waited on Stefano who hadn’t shown up yet and time was getting on. It was ten to two and Yaz said ‘forget him, lets just go already? We had a meet up time, if people can’t arrive on time then they get left behind, plain and simple!’ Little did we know he had cancelled and posted on our Facebook wall, but we had all left by that time to see the post. As we started to walk to Tesco’s, we bumped into Billy who had just came off a bus and was heading home. It was the second time this week we had bumped into him while being out. Denis asked that we would definitely be at QMC? As he had to get a Trent Barton bus while the rest of us had to get a city council one, once Abdur had been to Tesco’s and so Denis set off. The queue in Tesco’s was massive and this put Yaz off going to get anything from there, while Abdur still went in for supplies, once he was out we all hopped on a 35 bus and made our way to reunite with the Bulgarian Moaner.

Yaz – 180 Catleap.

We got off the bus and embraced with Denis, before walking through the subway to our first area of training. Denis was already moaning about the area, as this subway’s gap was ‘tiny’ and ‘rubbish’ and has nothing to do! We left him in his sulking state and the other guys got accustomed to the area and did a few precisions at various heights along the subway, I tried to forget about the distance and focused more on getting a nice images of the jumps. I took a few shots of Yaz doing cat to cats between the subway, experimenting with different angles. One of which was one of my favourite image of the day and can be seen below. The funniest thing by far of the day, was watching Yaz walk along the walls at height feeling scared of the drop. Continue reading ‘QMC, Nottm Uni and Highfields.’